


The Ace of (Metaphysical) Hearts

by Noorah



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Dorks in Love, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, i am here for the rarepairs, johnson and kent fall in love because i want them to be happy, johnson gets drafted by the aces because the plot requires it, they might try to break the fourth wall a bit, this is crack wow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 18:03:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7902439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noorah/pseuds/Noorah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time he meets Johnson, Kent shakes his hand and is immediately two parts confused, one part intrigued and then there’s that one part of him that’s like, 'This guy is weird. I like him.'</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ace of (Metaphysical) Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SHCombatalade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SHCombatalade/gifts).



> I'm not sure what this is or where it came from, but I honestly don't hate it so I thought I'd post it here. Everyone, even John Johnson, deserves to be the main character in their own story at least once, right??
> 
> (I just want Kent to be happy okay? If I have to write him into happiness sO BE IT.)

 

 

 

Kent doesn’t know what to think about the goalie they drafted out of the NCAA... Sure, he knows that John Johnson played with Jack at Samwell, was a pretty decent guy between the pipes, but honestly, other than that he had very little information. As the captain of the Aces he always tried to get to know a bit about the back-stories of his new team-mates, so he can ask a veteran who’ll get along with the new guy to keep an eye out.

  
But other than finding out that Johnson has a bachelor’s degree in some kind of science and seems to have been born in New York, Kent really doesn’t learn much. He shrugs it off and decides that he’ll take the rookie on.

  
He hopes John Johnson likes cats.

 

* * *

 

The first time he meets Johnson, Kent shakes his hand and is immediately two parts confused, one part intrigued and then there’s that one part of him that’s like _This guy is weird. I like him._

 

You can’t really blame Kent for this conclusion, the first thing that John ever said to him was “Wow, can’t believe my narrative is getting me NHL ice time. Honestly I was resigned to being in the background, you know? It’s kind of exciting every time I get my own story.” to which Kent replied, wittily of course, “Same, bro?” and laughed before slinging an arm around the rookie’s shoulders and dragging him into the locker room to get him set up in his stall.

 

* * *

 

Honestly Kent thinks that having Johnson on the team is pretty fun. The dude is weird as shit, often talking about how ‘outside the narrative’ their lives are, and about how their stats ‘only matter in relation to the bigger picture’ and to be clear, Kent doesn’t understand it all.

 

  
But he laughs and grabs John by the arm and drags him back onto the ice for more shooting practice anyways.

 

* * *

 

It’s like 11:45 on a Tuesday night in the middle of Vegas where instead of hitting up one of the nice bars on the strip, Kent and John drove about an hour to a little hole in the wall sports bar that has the best burgers they’ve ever tasted.

  
How Johnson knew about this place after only being in Vegas for a handful of months?

  
Kent never asked.

  
John would probably say it was all relative to whoever was writing their story.

  
Instead, they sit and watch the Islanders play the Schooners on the tv behind the bar and nurse local beers, and after a couple of drink he lets himself lean on Johnson’s arm.  
It’s nice to have a friend.

 

* * *

 

They don’t make it to the playoffs that season, which is like a punch to the gut for Kent. They’ve made it every year since he started playing in the desert, and a bad string of injuries (Including himself twisting his knee, knocking him out for almost three weeks) threw them out of the running.

  
He mopes for a couple days, but when John shows up at the door to his condo with two large baja blasts and a bag of Taco Bell, Kent lets him in.

 

* * *

 

Around two in the morning (it’s been silent for the past hour and a half or so as they watch Say Yes To The Dress reruns) John nudges Kent with his foot. Blue eyes meet hazel and Johnson says, “It wasn’t in the plot for this year, Kent. Next year though? I think we’re gonna do great.”

  
Kent tosses him the other end of the blanket he keeps on the couch and tucks his head back onto his pillow.

  
Sometimes he wonders if… Nah, people can’t actually see the future.

 

* * *

 

The next season they make it into the division finals, and they’re tied at 2 with two minutes left in the third. Coach M calls for their time out and tells Kent and Swoops to get out there with Jordy, sliding Dales and Gerds onto defense behind them.

  
Time out is over.

  
Kent turns to Johnson and taps the top of his bucket with his gloved hand, knocking their helmets together.

  
“You’re gonna do great, Kenny.” “So’re you, J.”

 

* * *

 

Swoops gets him the puck, he wheels, fakes a pass back to Gerds at the blue line, gets around the forward who has been dogging him this shift and shoots.

 

Low, glove side, by the post...

 

* * *

 

It goes in before the goalie can drop himself onto the ice and block it.

  
Mayhem.

 

* * *

 

The Aces win and Kent is the first person off the bench as the buzzer sounds, and he slams into John, both of them shouting at the top of their lungs with joy.  
As the rest of the team piles onto them in celebration, hazel eyes meet blue.

  
“I knew it was gonna go in.” Johnson says, almost too soft for Kent to hear, “It was in the plot of your story, Kenny. You’re meant to be one of the great ones.”

  
Kent doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just knocks their helmets together one last time and withdraws from the dog-pile and gets into place in the line-up to shake hands.

  
It echoes in his mind.  _You’re meant to be one of the great ones._

 

* * *

 

They end up going against the Falcs for the cup. Jack’s a rookie, and Kent has played with a handful of the guys on that team over the years. Snowy played in the WHL and went to Worlds with him, Marty was picked up in the Falcs expansion draft after being picked up from Boston when the Aces expanded. Kent and Tater played against each other in the last Olympics, Thirdy too.

 

* * *

 

It goes to game seven, of course. And the night before find him and Johnson side by side at the same little dingy sports bar from the year before.

 

“How d’you think this game is gonna go, J?” Kent asks, nursing a glass of water. No drinking, no going off diet, but this place is nice to just… Unwind.

  
John starts and turns on his stool, knocking their knees together. Kent doesn’t think he’s seen this look on John’s face before... He looks... Confused? A little afraid?

  
“I’m not really sure, Kenny.” Kent smiles and props his chin in his hand, prepared to listen. The next comment is another classically odd Johnson phrase, “Is this what it’s like to be the main character of a story?”

Kent looks at him questioningly. “What do you mean, John?”

  
“I’m not sure what the future holds anymore,” John says softly. “And I normally have at least an idea of where the plot and where the characters in the story are going.”

  
Kent smiles at him, bumps their shoulders together gently. “Yeah, I think this is what it’s like.”

 

* * *

 

The Falcs win, which John later says he should have seen coming. Apparently it was in Jack and Bitty’s story line. Kent just shrugs and hides a smile, tossing an arm around his goalie.

  
It was a good run and the Falcs played hard. So did the Aces. There’s no shame in going down fighting.

 

* * *

 

It’s close to sunrise in the middle of July on a beach in California a couple years later when Kent nudges John with his knee from where they’re sharing a blanket and a cup of coffee and a muffin.

  
They’ve shared a lot more than that, these past few years. A cup win, laughter, comments that almost break the fourth wall, friendships... And… Love.

  
They’ve shared a lot of love.

  
“Hey. Remember when you said you weren’t sure what the future was gonna hold for you?” he asks, leaning back on his hands, digging his fingers into the cool sand as the sky starts to shift from deep blue to bright, vibrant hues.

  
John nods from where he leans comfortably against Kent’s shoulder, coffee warming his fingers.

  
“What if it held me? What if it held us? I like our story, I like our plot. And I’d like another chapter to start. I don’t know where the story will be taking us, but I’d rather find out the plot with you. When my story ends, J, I want you to have been the other main character.”

 

* * *

 

Kent later swears that the most beautiful thing he has ever seen was the smile that spread across John’s face at that very moment. And he’d hoisted three Stanley cups, The Memorial Cup, The Art Ross, The Calder, and The Lady Byng.

He’s held his baby niece, he's had an Olympic Gold hung around his neck and he's watched Jack and Bitty marry.

  
But that smile? He swears it stopped his heart.

  
“Our very own story.” John replies, slinging an arm around Kent’s waist, as Kent slides his arm around John’s shoulders. “With me and you as the main characters… Yeah, I think I’d like that AU, Kenny. I think I’d like that a lot.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> #letjohnsonbethemaincharacter2k16


End file.
